Apparatus for handling and reclaiming waste and oil from used packing waste



July 14, 1936. L. s. VVILBUR 2,047,449

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING AND RECLAIMING WASTE AND OIL FROM USED PACKINGWASTE Filed May 3, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet l 4 m JD July 14, 1936. L. s.WILBUR 290473449 APPARATUS FOR HANDLING AND RECLAIMINU #Lfiaiilfi ANDOIL FROM USED PACKING WASTE Filed May 3, 1955 Sheets-Sheet 2 EWL m iizwerzc a) L. S. WILBUR APPARATUS FOR HANDLING AND RECLAIMING WASTE July14, 1936.

AND OIL FROM USED PACKING WASTE 4 SheetsSheet 3 Filed May 3, 1935 July14, 1936. 1.. s. WILBUR 2,047,449

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING AND RECLAIMING WASTE AND OIL FROM USED PACKINGWASTE Filed May 3, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented July 14, 1936 UNITEDSTATES-"1 PATENT OFFICE ING WASTE Lameh s; Wilbun Evanston, Ill V nb'iiiatidihviai 3", 1933'," Sea :No. 669,109 4' Claims. (c1.'1o4" 2)' Thisinvention relates to an forfhan dling andreclaiming waste and .oil from,used... packing waste, such as is accumulated fromthe.

journal boxes of railroad rolling stock and the 5 like.

As is well known, the cleaning e12 reclaiming f the waste and oil fromdirty unused journal box packing from rolling stock representsa largeand diflicult task, The annualconsumption ofwaste 10 for the'journalboxes of railwayrollinglstockin this country runs into many millions of.pounds, of which total as much as .twenty-rfive. million poundsmay berepresented .by a singlelarge railroad system. Inasmuch as the businessof reclaiming the Waste and oil from the dirty .or used p ing wasteisquitegenerally contracted for.

with private companies instead of .being taken care of by the railroadsthemselves, thisfrequently means that the journal .box packing. wastemust be trucked or shipped byfreight to private com.-

panies located, in some cases,.on.c0mpetiti.ve railroads, to berenovated and returnedat considerable cost for shipping andloften withdamage to the equipment because of .,leakage..of dirty oil from thecontainers onto the carfloor. ..The,'c.,0st

and delay in handling ,dirtyor usedryvaste mater rially lessen thesavings thatcanbeeifected by renovation of the wasteand reuse .of thereclaimed waste and oil. It is evident that the cost 00 of shippingmillions of pounds of packing waste,

both to and from the renovating plant, 'is not only'costly. because offreight chargesarld de lays, but results in other indirect lossesthrough: damage to the rolling stock of the railwaysibe cause of leakycontainers; careless shipments' andthe like.

According to my present invenetn, agreat of the cost of shipping thepacking wasteto and 40 from stationary renovating plants is eliminate Myinventiontprovides a mobile edui exit the of used pac king'waste willnaturally ace at them, because of the..existence 01f wliaiairei te'rm'edrip tracks at such points; at which va r packingwaste and reclaiming thewaste and oil. lecting points are so selected thatlarge' qua t1 s I I Ion th ne II I III.offlFig...2.

rious. types of freight equipment is repaired. A comparatively largequantity of the used packing isaccumulated at these points, but thereare also other points on arailroad, such asthe loca- 7 tion of largeroundhouses and car shops, where additional quantities of usedpackingmaterial are accumulated. At still other points,. smallercollections of used packing waste will gradually be accumulated fromtime to time. p

According to my system, relatively large stor-. age Iacilitiesfor the.handlingof the accumulated used packing are established at the mainpoints and-,.smaller storage facilities are provided at points wheresmaller accumulations of the used packing will occur. ,The used packingfrom the 15 secondary points willbe shipped from time-to time, asconvenient, to. the main points,.of storage and theg mobile renovatingequipment will simply. .move from one large concentration point toanother, at each of which the accumulated 0 used ordirty waste will becleaned and renovated for reuseat such large storage points or forreshipment;back to the smaller stations.

It istherefore an. important object of th j in-.

ventionto provide asystem for handling and renovatingused or dirty wastepacking from grailroadrolling stock, whereby a considerable saving inthe cost of. renovation and reclaiming of materials maybe effected.

. It is another important object of this invention 6 to provide a mObileequipment capable of ham dling and renovating dirty or used packingwaste to reclaim efficiently the Waste and oil therefrom.

-.Qther, and further 7 important objects of this 4 tratedin the drawingsand hereinafter more fully 40 I described.

Onthegdrawingsz, v p 7 .Figure .l represents a railroad system with...pointszthereon to indicate main and secondary stations for theaccumulation of larger or smaller 45 amounts of. dirty'or used packingwaste, in accordance with my invention. h

Figure 2 is a sec tionalview of a car edfiip ped i with myapparatus forrenovating dirty or ,used

Fig e3 is a sectional view taken substantially lEigureg l is asectio'nal view taken substantlally Figure 5 is a sectional view takensubstantially on the line VV of Fig. 2.

Figure 6 is a broken, vertical sectional view of a washing tank.

Figure '7 is another broken vertical sectional view of an oil dryingtank.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view of an arrangement of bagfilters for filtering the dried oil.

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic view of a secondary point of storage oraccumulation of dirty or used packing waste.

Figure 10 is a diagrammatic view of a main point of concentration ofused packing waste.

As shown on the drawings:

The reference numeral II (Fig. 1) represents generally a system ofrailroad tracks which may be complete in itself or which may be a unitor part of a larger system. Main points I2 are strategically located onthe system II to coincide with already existing rip tracks or otherlocations at which a major part of the repairs on the rolling stock isperformed. At such points I 2, large quantities of dirty or used packingwaste will naturally accumulate and at these points, in accordance withmy invention, correspondingly large storage and handling facilities areprovided. At other points, I3, are provided smaller handling and storagefacilities, at which the dirty or used packing waste is allowed toaccumulate until a sufficient quantity has been collected to make itworthwhile to transport the material to a main center I2. The points I3thus serve merely to feed the used packing waste to the nearest storagecenter.

At the main storage center I2, facilities are provided, as indicated inFig. 10, for storing the dirty or used packing waste in bins,represented by the reference numeral I4, and fresh or renovated packingwaste in bins I5. A plurality of barrels I6 are provided for dirty orcontaminated oil and another set of barrels I! are provided for thereclaimed, or clean oil.

At the points I3, storage facilities, illustrated in Fig. 9, may be setup, including a bin I8 for dirty packing waste and a bin I 9 for freshor renovated packing waste, a barrel, or barrels 20, for dirty orcontaminated oil, and a barrel or barrels 2| for fresh or reclaimed oil.Obviously, Figs. 9 and 10 are merely diagrammatic and not intended tolimit the number or size of the receptacles for the various materials.

My invention includes a mobile renovating and reclaiming plant orequipment, indicated generally by the reference numeral 22 (Figs. 2 to 5inclusive) and comprising a box car or the like in which is mountedapparatus similar to that described and claimed in my copendingapplication, Serial No. 655,451, filed February 6, 1933, and also in mycopending application entitled Filter apparatus and process of filteringoils, Serial No. 668,393, filed April 28, 1933.

For purposes of illustration, the renovating plant 22 is shown ascomprising a box car 23, which may be of standard construction, butwhich is preferably provided with end wall sections 24 and 25 (Figs. 2and 3) which are adapted to be swung from vertical into horizontalposition to afford additional floor or platform space for receivingbarrels or other receptacles indicated at 26 and at 21, respectively.

The equipment within the car 23 comprises a tank 28 in which the dirtypacking waste is washed with oil, a second wash tank 29 for carrying outa further washing step, a third tank 30 in which the renovated packingwaste is mixed with fresh or reclaimed oil, and centrifuges 3| and 32for wringing the oil impregnated waste between the first and secondtank, and between the second and third tank, respectively. Dirty oil isdrawn off from tanks 28 and 29, either periodically or continuouslyduring the washing operation, through a pipe 33 by means of a pump 34,which discharges the dirty oil into an elevated tank 35 (Fig. 5). Fromthe tank 35, the oil is drawn ofi through a pipe 36 and branch pipe 31into a plurality of bag filter units 38, arranged in parallel. From thebag filters 38, the oil is drawn off through a main pipe line 59 andpumped by means of a pump 39 into a clean oil storage tank 40. From thestorage tank 40, the oil is drawn off by gravity through a pipe 4| andrun into the finishing tank 30.

The details of the construction of the various pieces of equipment aremore fully described in my copending application above referred to. Itis therefore deemed unnecessary to describe them other than very brieflyhere. The wash tank 28 comprises a comparatively deep receptacle havinga horizontally extending rack or forarninous neath the oil level. Thecontents of the tank,

28 are adapted to be heated by means of one or more steam coils 58 froma main steam line 60 to keep the temperature of the oil preferably abovethe boiling point of water so as to drive off the water contained in thedirty oil derived from the used packing waste. One or more perforatedair pipes extend from a main air pipe 6| directly below the supportinggrating 42 for the introduction of air into the tank. The air, inbubbling up through the oil and waste, serves both to keep the wasteagitated and also aids in the carrying off of water and moisture fromboth the oil and waste.

The oil drying tank 35 (Fig. 7) is provided also with one or more steamcoils 46 and perforated air pipes 41. The oil is kept at such atemperature as will permit the driving off of any contained water by thecombined action of heat supplied through the steam coils 46 and airthrough the pipe 41.

The dried oil from the tank 35 then passes through a plurality of bagfilters, the details of which are more clearly shown in Fig. 8. Each ofsaid filters 38 comprises an outer receptacle 48 having a flanged top 49from which is supported a bag 50 of suitable porous or foraminousstructure. A removable cover 5| together with swinging bolts 52 serve toclamp the upper end of the bag 50 in place. A plurality of steam orother type of heating coils 53, connected between main steam inlet pipes62 and outlet pipes 63, are positioned around the bag 50 and within thereceptacle 48 to maintain the contents of the receptacle at a suitablyhigh temperature to reduce the viscosity of the oil and facilitate morerapid filtration. The receptacles 38 may conveniently be arranged insets of three or more, as shown. If desired, a vacuum can be drawn onthe bag filters 38 by means of a suction line 58, so as to increase thepressure differential between the inside and outside of the bags andthus aid the filtration operation.

In practice, a mobile unit of the type described is assigned a certainterritory to serve in the handling, renovating and reclaiming ofmaterials (ill used in packing journal boxes of rolling stock. Themobile unit 22 is transported from one point 12 to another on therailroad lines within the assigned territory. At each point l2, acertain amount of dirty or used waste will have been accumulated, bothfrom the operations local to that point and also by transportation fromsurrounding points it. The mobile unit remains at each point or centerI2 until the accumulation of dirty waste at that center has beenrenovated and the waste and oil reclaimed. The unit then moves on to thenext center I2 and repeats the operation there.

At each center !2, the barrels 26 of used or dirty waste are loaded ontothe platform 24 and the contents of these barrels are dumped into thetank 28 up to its capacity. The dirty waste 44 is supported on the racksor gratings 42 Within the tank 28 and the tank filled to the desiredlevel with fresh washing oil or with reclaimed oil. Steam is turned onthe coils 58 and air on the pipes to heat the oil to the desiredtemperature, usually above the boiling point of water and preferablyconsiderably higher, and the water and moisture thereby driven ofi fromthe oil and packing waste by the combined action of the heat and the airpassing through the mass. Dirt and other foreign material is liberatedfrom the waste as a result of the washing action of the oil and theagitation caused by the bubbling of the air through the mass of waste.

The washed and dehydrated waste from. tank 28 is passed into thecentrifuge 3|, where the major part of the oil is removed from thewaste. The oil is allowed to flow back from the centrifuge 3! into tank28 and the waste is removed from the centrifuge 3! and carried into thetank 29. In the tank 29, the waste is further washed with fresh orreclaimed oil, using both steam and air for heating and agitating themass in the tank. The now thoroughly washed and dehydrated waste ispassed into the centrifuge 32, where it is wrung comparatively free ofoil. The oil from the centrifuge 32 passes into the tank 29 and thewaste is carried on into the tank 30. As it leaves the centrifuge 32,the waste contains about equal parts of fibrous material and oil. Freshor reclaimed oil is added to the waste in the tank 30 and the wasteallowed to soak up as much oil as it will take.

From the tank 30, the renovated waste is passed between squeeze rolls 54(Figs. 2 and 3) to remove the excess of oil. Ordinarily, about 2 to 4parts of oil to 1 part of fibrous material are left in the waste that isready for reuse.

The dirty wash oil from the tank 28 is drawn off through the pipe 33 andpump 34 into the oil drying tank 35. The oil in the tank 35 is heated bymeans of the heating coil 46 and air is bubbled through it from theperforated pipe 41 to carry off any moisture or free water that may bepresent in the oil. Sufficiently high temperatures, preferably above theboiling point of water, are used so that the dehydrating action iscomparatively rapid. After the oil has been thoroughly dried, it is runinto the bag filters 38, where all of the dirt and foreign matter isremoved from the oil. A suitable pressure differential is maintained onthe oil being filtered by means of the pump 39 and the oil is keptheated during the filtering operation to reduce its viscosity and allowit to filter more rapidly. Various filtering aids and various types offiltering devices, such as disclosed in my copending applications abovereferred to, may be employed. The filtered and dried oil'is pumped intothe reclaimed oil storage tank dil, from whence it is drawn into thetank 39 as required. Any surplus of reclaimed oil from the tank 40 isdrawn off into barrels 2?.

Other important advantages of my method of handling and renovating usedpacking waste to reclaim the waste and the oil for reuse are apparent.There is, first, a very considerable saving in the cost oftransportation over the previous system of shipping the used waste froma great number of distant points to a central stationary renovatingplant. Secondly, much of the damage or injury to rolling stockoccasioned by the transport of dirty waste over long distances and muchof the handling and rehandling of the dirty waste and renovated andreclaimed materials are eliminated.

My method of handling packing waste from rolling stock is applicable notonly to steam railways but also to electric railways and the like. Onthese smaller railway systems, where the quantity of waste to berenovated would not justify the erection of a stationary plant, the useof my mobile unit makes possible the economical handling of the usedwaste from suchsystem.

I am aware that many changes may be made and numerous details may bevaried through a wide range without departing from the principles ofthis invention and I, therefore, do not purpose limiting the patentgranted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a mobile unit for renovating packing waste and reclaiming wasteand oil, a car having extensible end wall sections providing additionalfloor space in extended position for receiving waste and oil containers,a Washing tank near one end of said car and a finishing tank forrenovated and reclaimed waste and oil at the other end of said car andmeans intermediate said tanks for removing contaminated oil from packingwaste coming from said first washing tank and supplying clean oil to thewashed packing waste.

2. In a mobile unit for renovating packing waste and reclaiming wasteand oil, the combination with a railroad car of a plurality of tankspositioned along one side thereof for receiving and washing dirtypacking waste, centrifuges intermediate said tanks for removing oil fromsaid waste, and a plurality of oil dehydrating and oil filtering meansalong the other side of said car and in oil flow communication with saidtanks.

3. In a mobile unit for renovating packing waste and reclaiming wasteand oil, the combination with a railroad car of a plurality of tankspositioned along one side thereof for receiving and washing dirtypacking waste including a primary washing tank, a secondary washing tankand tank in which the renovated waste is impregnated with reclaimed oil,centrifuges intermediate said tanks for removing oil from said waste,and a plurality of oil dehydrating and oil filtering means along theother side of said car and in oil flow communication with said. tanksfor receiving dirty oil from said primary and secondary tanks anddelivering reclaimed therein to wash the waste, means for removing theoil from said waste after the waste is re moved from said washing tank,a second washing tank adjacent said oil removing means for furtherwashing the waste, a second oil removing means at the other end of saidtank, a finishing tank adjacent said second oil removing means forimpregnating the washed waste with clean oil, a filter apparatus forremoving foreign materials from the oil in said washing tanks in pipedcommunication with said tanks, and means for supplying said tank withcleaned oil.

LAWRENCE S. WEBUR.

